PERCENTAGE LOST OF SEALS KILLED. 387 



in later years it was learned that shooting them was a swifter method 

 of killing. At the start the hunters were inexperienced and a large 

 proportion were lost. 



I use the shotgun for taking seal, and sometimes Ja8 Klonac1cet Pm 283# 

 I lose one or two out of ten that I kill. 



Breech-loading firearms were used exclusively. My own success as 

 a hunter was a catch of SO per cent of all fur-seals 

 killed E ' L ' Law80n > P- 221 - 



I have made it my business to find out what proportion of skins of 

 seals killed are really brought into the market, 

 and from the information which I obtained from Geo. Liebes, p. 511. 

 the sealers, hunters, and those owning the skins, 



I learned that on an average only about one out of six killed was se- 

 cured, varying with the expertness of the hunter. 



That by reason of his long acquaintance with the business and his 

 conversations with the captains of the vessels 



called poachers, and the hunters employed on Herman Liebes, p. 514. 

 those vessels — that is, the persons who actually 

 shoot the seals — deponent is satisfied that a large number of the seals 

 which are shot are not caught, but are lost, and that the number so 

 killed and lost is at least 25 to 30 per cent. 



The number of seals actually secured to the number killed does not 

 exceed about one in four, or about one is taken 

 for every three destroyed, varying, of course, Isaac Liebes, p. 453. 

 with the skill and experience of the hunters. 



From these conversations I should judge they did not secure more 

 than one-half of the seals killed; and this, I think, 

 is a large estimate of the number secured. A - P ' Lowd >P- 39 - 



I have frequently noticed in the harbor of Petropaulovsky that the 

 natives, in killing hair-seals, are only able to obtain 

 one animal out of every four or five of those killed, jno. Malowansky,p. 198. 

 and that they frequently wait about four days for 

 the bodies to be washed ashore. 



It takes anywhere from one to twenty shots, on the average, to secure 

 a seal, and I think we got about three out of five 



that we killed; but we may not have got as many, Thoncal Mathasan, p. 

 for poor hunters wouldn't get more than one out 339. 

 of five. 



None I lost when I used spear. About 20 per Nashtou, p. 298. 

 cent are lost when killed with shotgun. 



An experienced A No. 1 seal hunter, in shooting sleeping seals with 

 a shotgun, will get a large proportion of what he 

 kills, and will get one out of four breeching seals mies Nelson, p. 469. 

 that he kills, but an ordinary, common hunter, 



like myself, will sometimes use ten cartridges and not get one seal. I 

 can safely say that a common hunter will only get one seal out of three. 



